The following description is provided to assist the understanding of the reader. None of the information provided or references cited is admitted to be prior art to the present technology.
Wood preservatives are used to deter or kill organisms that degrade wood (e.g., wood bearings, utility poles, railroad ties, landscape timbers, docking and marine structures). Many such conventional wood preservatives such as heavy metals or copper naphthenates are fully toxic to wood destroying organisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi, wood boring beetles, termites, marine organisms, and animals such as rodents), but have the disadvantage of also being generally toxic to the environment.
Further, to be most effective, wood preservatives must penetrate into the wood interior. To do so, many wood preservatives are formulated as liquids that are impregnated into wooden structures. The liquids typically remain fluid even after they are forced into the wood and are thus prone to leakage from the wood. Leakage of toxic wood preservatives impacts the environment and can raise maintenance costs due to the need for additional labor and materials for the upkeep necessary to reprotect wooden structures.
For example, when stored horizontally, wooden structures such as utility poles and railroad ties need to be turned periodically to prevent the fluid wood preservatives in the wood from being forced down and out of the utility poles by gravity. Further, fluid migration may leave installed wooden products unprotected, at the expense of the surrounding environment, as may be seen in telephone poles where the impregnated fluid has migrated downward and left the top dry and vulnerable. There is thus a need for an improved preservation technology based upon wood preservatives that are less susceptible to migration from the wood that is being preserved. There is a further need for an improved preservation technology based upon wood preservatives that include environmentally friendly materials.